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Vol 02 Chapter 68-1: The Seven-Day War V

The Blouse Family was one of the great patrician families in King Domorgal’s Country, ranking within the top five. Their source of wealth lay in one of the western continent’s biggest garnet mines.

Currently, the one defending the town of Blouse was Rene Blouse, the second son of the Blouse family. The head of the family and his eldest son were taking part in the invasion of King Rosais’ Country.

「Oh man, I wish I could have gone to war too. Then, I could have defeated the enemy general, that man named Almus, with my invisible slash.」

Rene said while looking regretful.

After hearing those words, one of Rene’s subordinates tried to humor him.

「Isn’t that precisely why your father entrusted the rear to you, Rene-sama? He has high expectations for you.」

「Right? You think so too!!」

Rene’s mood greatly improved. As long as they kept Rene in a good mood, there would be no problems.

His subordinates were well aware of this.

The truth was, that Rene had no military talent whatsoever and his body wasn’t built for battle. That was the real reason his father didn’t take him along.

However, Rene was not entirely incompetent. Apart from his lack of physical prowess, he was also cautious and timid, which made him even more unsuitable for the military.

But he showed talent as a civil official. His cautious nature had greatly contributed to the safe expansion of the mines.

To avoid repeating the great famine from eight years ago, Rene proposed using the profits from the garnet mine to buy cattle and horses to enhance their agricultural productivity. Thanks to his efforts, the agricultural output of the Blouse territory had significantly increased since the famine eight years ago.

Rene was also the one who contributed the most to expanding the sales channels for garnet, not only to domestic merchants and patricians but also to other countries and groups, such as the Equus Tribe. Despite his shortcomings, everyone related to the Blouse Family admired Rene’s abilities as a civil officer.

The problem was that Rene himself wished to become a military man more than an administrator.

At that moment a critical report reached Rene.

「Bad news, Rene-sama!! The town has been surrounded by the Rosais army!!」

「Ahaha, that’s a funny joke. According to the message I received just yesterday via hawk from my father, who is battling that same Rosais army, the Rosais army should be holed up in the Teria Fortress… Wait, is it true?」

Cold sweat broke out on Rene’s forehead.

「Rene-sama!! Now is the time for you to unleash your invisible slash on those Rosais fools!!」

「No, no, that was a joke; don’t take it seriously, I’ll die if I do that. Um, let’s negotiate for now. But first, let’s confirm the number and type of enemy troops!」

◇

The town of Blouse was a fortified town. The walls, built thanks to the wealth produced by the town’s garnet mines, were second only to those surrounding the capital of King Domorgal’s Country in height and sturdiness.

From atop the town walls, Rene looked down at the enemy army. The sun had already set, making it impossible to see the enemy forces.

The enemy seemed to have extinguished their campfires, so their numbers were unclear. But, considering they had defeated the main Domorgal army and penetrated this far, they must number at least over five thousand. Rene involuntarily swallowed his saliva.

On the other hand, the town of Blouse had only about two hundred soldiers. No one in King Domorgal’s Country had imagined the enemy would penetrate this far.

Victory seemed unlikely.

「Hear me, lord of the town of Blouse!」

A man’s voice echoed in the night. Rene responded.

「I am Rene Blouse, the protector of the town of Blouse on behalf of my father, the lord. What do you want with our town?」

The unknown man responded to Rene’s declaration.

「This town has already been surrounded. Surrender peacefully. If you surrender and hand over the town, the lives of you, your residents, and your soldiers will all be spared!」

「Give me some time to think about it!」

◇

「Do we have no choice but to surrender?」

Rene asked his subordinate, who nodded quietly.

「I am concerned that we haven’t received any reports from the courier horses or the magicians tasked with communications… but it’s safe to assume that the Domorgal army has been defeated, it would be impossible for the Rosais army to be here otherwise. I don’t know why they are offering such generous terms, but refusing here will put the town in danger. We should accept them.」

「Okay, I understand. Let’s accept.」

Unbeknownst to Rene and his vassals, a courier horse had been dispatched to deliver the news of the fall of Dress Village, but it had been intercepted by the Rosais army. There were only two paths from Dress Village to the town of Blouse where a horse could run at full speed. The Rosais army had taken the shortest one, so the courier horses couldn’t pass through it.

Therefore, they had to take the longer, alternate path. However, the Rosais army was aware of this as well and had prepared an ambush to capture any messengers.

One might wonder why they didn’t use the hawks to deliver the message, but magicians powerful enough to could control animals were rare, and too important to be stationed outside of critical locations. The only places in Blouse territory that had the possibility of using hawks were Dress Village and the town of Blouse.

◇

「No way, they’re really surrendering…」

Raymond watched the opening town gates in confusion.

Since the Rosais army only had five hundred men, he had expected the enemy to try to barricade themselves in the fortified town. Although, with the ballistae and blast javelins they had brought with them, breaking through the town gates wouldn’t be too difficult.

「Could this be a trap?」

Mutzio also looked at the town gates with a puzzled expression.

「It’s a trap, it has to be. The moment we charge in, we’ll be targeted by arrows from both sides,」

Roswald also voiced his support for the ‘trap theory’.

「Sigh, you are a bunch of cowards. Fine, I’ll go.」

Vilgar said as he led a few of his men into the town. Then he shouted from inside.

「It’s safe here!」

Hearing his voice, the Rosais army finally decided to enter the town.

◇

「Damn it… to think they only had five hundred men… This is a blunder I’ll regret all my life…」

Bound with ropes, Rene twisted his face in frustration, tears visible in his eyes.

「Well, these things happen, don’t worry too much.」

Raymond consoled Rene. He didn’t know why, but he was feeling some sympathy for the dejected young man.

「Wow! Look at all this garnet!」

Mutzio began looting with excitement. The Blouse Family’s two hundred private soldiers, who should have protected the town were restrained and couldn’t stop the Equus tribesmen.

The merchants and influential people in the town looked in frustration as the Equus tribesmen looted all valuables from their homes. Among the spoils were foreign luxuries like spices, goldsmithing, and glassware.

It was a treasure trove.

The only ones who felt relieved were the lower and middle-class residents. They had little of value to be looted, at most a small quantity of wheat, salt, and their daughters.

Naturally, even the barbarians who called themselves the Equus Tribe wouldn’t bother taking wheat and salt from the poor when there was a mountain of treasure to loot from the wealthy—it would be a waste of time. Plus, the town of Blouse was the capital of the territory, but also a mining town.

As a mining town, Blouse was home to many miners. To cater to their needs, there were numerous brothels in the town. When the Equus tribesmen and the soldiers of the Rosais army received word that the brothels were available for free, they flocked to them.

Thus, the occupation of the town of Blouse by the Rosais army was, with few exceptions, remarkably peaceful and orderly.